can truly apply for fuccour. They must know their fouls difeafed before they can truly apply for a cure. "The whole need not a phyfician, but they that are fick ;" and only they who know themfelves to be fick will apply to one.

There may

be a "balm in Gilead," a fovereign balm, for all wounds and difeafes of the foul, but they who fancy their fouls to be well and whole will have none of it. Our divine Saviour came to call, not the righteous, but finners to repentance; and thofe who know themfelves to be finners will alone obey his call. He came to feek and to fave them that are loft. It was the weary and the heavy laden whom He invited to HIM, that HE might give them reft. It was the mourners whom HE pronounced bleffed, and to whom he promifed comfort. It was the poor in fpirit, to whom HE offered the kingdom of heaven. "For thus "faith the High and the lofty One, that inhabit"eth eternity, whofe name is Holy; I dwell in "the high and holy place; with him also that is "of a contrite and humble fpirit, to revive the "fpirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of "the contrite one. For I will not contend for "ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the "fpirit fhould fail before me, and the fouls which "I have made *.”

This, then, is the conviction spoken of in our text, a conviction that humbles the foul, and fills it with contrition; a conviction which caufes it, with

Ifa. lvii. 15, 16. See chap. lxvi. 2.

Job,

Job, to hate and abhor itself, and repent as in duft and afhes." It is a conviction, inward, deep, fpiritual; not merely a perfuafion of the mind, but a feeling conviction of the heart. We must not merely say to God, with our Church, We have errel, and ftrayed, from thy "ways, like loft fheep: we have followed too "much the devices and defires of our own hearts: "we have offended againft thy holy laws: we “ have left undone thofe things which we ought "to have done; and we have done thofe things "which we ought not to have done; and there is "no health, no fpiritual health whatever, in us. "But, thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, mi"ferable finners *." "We acknowledge and be"wail our manifold fins and wickednefs, which "we, from time to time, moft grievously have "committed, by thought, word, and deed, against "thy Divine Majefty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do car

"neftly repent, and are heartily forry, for thefe "our mifdoings; the remembrance of them is "grievous unto us; the burden of them is intoler"able; therefore have mercy upon us, have "mercy upon us, moft merciful Father t." We muft not only SAY, but FEEL this. It must be the language of our hearts. Our Church meant it as fuch; and, if it be not fo with us, we are as far from poffeffing the neceffary qualifications, as

members

* General Confeffion at Morning Prayer. General Confeffion in the Communion Service.

members of the Church of England, as thofe tequifite to true members of the fpiritual Church of Chrift *.

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"Suppofing an uninterefted perfon were to drop "into the aflembly (obferves a pious author) and were to "afk me, Pray, Sir, are you in jeft or in earnest in all "this? What fhould I anfwer him? Doth the reader "fhudder at the bare poffibility that the thing remains "doubtful? Well then may I! But yet, am I not in 'jeft, if the folemn expreffions I have uttered with my tongue be not in exact correspondence with the fenti"ments of the heart ? AmI not in jeft, if I profess myself "to be a miferable finner, while yet I never felt my mifery "in fin? Am I not in jest to tell God, that there is no "health in me; that is, no health of foul, not the finallest degree of goodnefs, to recommend me to his mercy; "and yet fancy myself a very worthy character, and one justly entitled to his divine favour? In fhort, am I "not in jeft, not only while reading the prayer, but going through the whole of the church fervice, to fpeak "of the burden of fin as intolerable, which I never felt; "of being heartily forry for my mifdoings, for which I "never truly forrowed in heart; and of earnefly repenting of my manifold fins and wickednefs, unconcerned, all "the while, how many, or how aggravated, thofe mani"fold fins are; and unconfcious what earnest repentance "(which is the gift of God) means?"

"Solemn Queftions for Serious Chriftians, who pro"fefs themselves to be Members of the Church of Eng"land, as well Minifters as People, &c. by Robert "Hawker, D. D. Vicar of Charles, Plymouth," &c, &c. N. B. This is among the Tracts of the " Religious "Tract Society, at Darlington."

Permit me now to fhew you how the learned Chillingworth preached on this fubject, i. e. the infincerity of our prayers, before King Charles I. and his Court.

"And then, for the Lord's Prayer, the plain truth is, "we lie unto God, for the most part, clean through it,

and

2dly, But who are they whom the Holy Ghost is to convince? The anfwer is plain. "The "world." The whole world. All who stand in need of redemption by Christ Jefus. All whom Chrift came to fave. "God looked upon the "earth; and behold, it was corrupt; for all flefh "had corrupted his way upon the carth t." God "faw

and for want of defiring indeed what in words we pray for, tell him to his face as many falfe tales as we make petitions. For, who fhews by his endeavour, that he "defires heartily that God's name fhould be hallowed; that "is, holily and religiously worshipped and adored by all 6C men ? That his kingdom fhould be advanced and enlarged; that his bleffed will should be univerfally obeyed? "Who fhews, by his forlaking fin, that he defires fo

much as he fhould do the forgivencfs of it? Nay, who "doth not revenge, upon all occafions, the affronts, contempts, and injuries put upon him, and fo, upon the matter, curfe himself, as often as he fays, Forgive us our trefpaffes, as we forgive them that trefpafs against us? " &c, &c. Now, beloved, this is certain; he that em ploys not requifite industry, to obtain what he pretends to defire, does not indeed defire, but only pretends to do fo. He that defires not what he prays for, prays "with tongue only, and not with his heart; indeed, does not pray to God, but play and dally with him. And

66

yet, this is all which men generally do, and therefore, herein alfo accomplish this prophecy, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," &c. &c. + Gen. vi. 12. 5."If I fhould reckon to you how many direct lies every wicked man tells to God Almighty, as often as he fays Amen to this form of godlinefs, which our Church hath prefcribed; if I fhould prefent unto you all our acting of piety, and playing of humiliation, and perfonating of devotion, in the "Pfalms, the Litanies, the Collects, and generally in the whole fervice, I should be infinite," &c. See his works Folio. Sermon aft, on 2 Tim. iii,-6.

faw that the wickednefs of man was great upon "the earth, and that every imagination of the "thoughts of his heart was only evil continual❝ly *"' "God looked down from heaven upon

"the children of men, to fee if there were any "that did understand, that did seek God. Every "one of them is gone back: they are altogether "become filthy; there is none that doeth good, "no not one t." "Both Jews and Gentiles, they "are all under fin. God hath included all under "fin and in unbelief. There is not a truly righteous "man in himself upon earth. All have finned, and "come fhort of the glory of God. The whole "world lieth in wickednefs," or (as it might be tranflated) in the wicked one, in the very arms and power of Satan; they lie contentedly, without ftruggle, quietly lulled afleep all except the "little flock," of Chrift, who are not of the "world, as HE was not of the world" Nay, "we are all by nature the children of wrath even as "others." Man is very far gone from original "righteoufnefs, and is of his own nature inclined "to evil, fo that the flesh lufteth always contrary "to the Spirit; and therefore, in every perfon "born into this world, it deferveth God's wrath "and

B 2

:

The Hebrew word fignifies not only "imaginations," but alfo the purpofes" and defires." Dr. Blayney. See the margin of his Bible, in Loc.

-19.

See alfo the whole of the

+ Pfalm liii. 2, 3.- See this paffage, &c. cited by St. Paul, in Rom. iii. 10.-1 three first chapters of the Romans.. Rom. iii. 9. & 2, 3.. Gal. iii. 22. 1 John v. 19. John xvii. 14. 16.

V.12.

Rom. xi. 32.